She's Marina, We're The Diamonds, And That Was The Rate [Finalized]

Bangers&Bops

Bangers&Bops

My 11 stays winning.
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Phonetics Girl

Phonetics Girl

she/her
"When I wrote the song I literally felt like I was ready, that I am in my prime and I feel like as an artist I've grown. I feel fully realised as an artist, and in my own identity." I think a lot of people assume it's about sex, but it's not. Strictly. Most of it is not. It's really about being ready for happiness, and being ready to love somebody, and being fully-realised as a person."​


Spacey. Galactic. Aphrodite lady seashell bikini. Garden panty. The Red Shoes if Kate was on top of her game. And yet laced with melancholy. These are just a few things that pop up in my head when I think Froot. And my synaesthesia ties them up neatly with a dark red bow on top. Glimmering. Really, it might be her greatest achievement when it comes to creativity. All those tightly packaged little hooks. There’s just enough of them to put together a sprawling epic which never overstays its welcome. Whether it’s the dangerously quirky “Froo-oo-oo-oot” calls, the lamenting of “la dolce vita”, the bubblegum pre-chorus, or the operatic eeriness of the middle 8 (seriously, if you don’t get elevated to a higher plane of existence at that part, then maybe you deserved Love+Fear), your mind just doesn’t have the time to wander off.


@abael (7): "I appreciate the quality of the track, but it's not a personal favorite."

@Verandi (8): "A bitsy too long but the good sis had quite a few good ideas here."

@pop3blow2 (9): "A sort of Marina-whimsy that calls back to some similar moments on her debut. It’s the kind of funky existential bop that only Marina could create."

@Sprockrooster (9): "Sandwiched between two slow tracks this even feels more like a massive bop."

@babes aloud (9.8): "I hate that they cut out the wrong bridge for the release. they left in the boring one, but we lost the cooky one."

@Ana Raquel (10): "I LIVE for that last part."

@DJHazey (10): "Yes, it stands out from the rest of the album, clearly, but that's not a detriment to FROOT at all for me. Froot is simply one 'branch' and a necessary element, otherwise the masterpiece wouldn't be complete. Who wasn't blown to smithereens the first time the 80s/disco production decimated everything in its path? We all know where we were when the event occured, it will never leave us. Marina making 'melancholy euphoria' an artform."

@happiestgirl (10): "Bizarre, highly camp, almost revoltingly sexual, full of weird fruit-related metaphors, not to mention that downright sinister, somewhat threatening chorus. Absolutely demented banger. One of her best"

@imaduck (10): "I just wish we could have had an album of 8 bit inspired marina, how this is anything less than 8 I do not know."

@Subspace88 (10): "The song that started it all for me. The music video came on one day, and it was love from there."

@Stradiwhovius (10): "It took a while for this song to grow on me but it's become of my favourites. Sonically, it's outstanding and always has been. But it took a long time for me to see past its fruit puns and see the song for what it really is. o it. Recently I've connected a lot more with idea of breaking out of cycles and moving on and trying to be happy and I think this song captures that almost as well as Happy does. You just have to view it through that sort of snarky lens of The Family Jewels which doesn't generally apply to FROOT as strongly. "I've been saving all my summers" is futile. Tragic even. And the song is about recognising that summer can't last forever and moving on. It's so thematically relevant, interesting, and lovely."

@Kenny (10): "Marina did that. And I hate that phrase but what did she do? That."

@OspreyQueen (10): "I mean, who could dislike this song (though I’m sure some of you heathens will try it). It’s a hypnotic, psychedelic blast of nocturnal disco that sounded like nothing else at the time and still sounds like nothing else from the past five years. Marina using fruit as an extended metaphor for sex sounds like a recipe for disaster, but somehow she makes it work, and it’s the cherry on top of an intoxicatingly unusual slice of pop."

@Trouble in Paradise (10): "This truly feels like Marina delivering on the promise of her debut. What a monster of a song - those melodies and the way her vocals just glide right over everything! Kate Bush would be proud!"

@sfmartin (10): "Absolutely delightful. All the things I love about Marina. Wonderfully vivid lyrics, quirky production and air tight melodies. Hook after hook. Could easily be an 11."

@Music Is Life (10): "What an absolute BOP. I love the production for this, it’s not just an average bop. The lyrics are completely ridiculous in the best way too. Love this."

@Vixen (10): "This is BRILLIANT from start to finish. The production, the vocals, the lyrics... This is genuinely Marina at her peak. She knows what she's doing, and it shows. A showstopper, really. An almagam of her biggest strenghts. Just tremendous."

@Sally_Harper (10): "Amazing. My favourite part is the “It’s summer time and I hang on a vine…” section but the whole thing is fantastic. This is quite random, but one of my favourite memories from university was the day this song clicked for me. I’d woken up really early before a seminar and decided to muck about with my hair and listen to music. So I was sitting on the floor, curling my hair, and I put this song on with the intention of playing it once and then moving on, but I went “FUCK ME THIS IS ACTUALLY BRILLIANT” and ended up listening to it on repeat for about two hours. It still takes me back to that morning."

@Maki (10): "What to say about this except: amazing. Way to write a pop song! This just keeps giving with all the song sections and stages of buildup to the chorus. And that chorus is pure amazingness. Except for the chorus, my favorite part is the section between the verse and pre-chorus. It's so well written that you can't tell that it's over 5 minutes long, which is incredible for an upbeat song. There is a certain spookiness, especially in the middle-8, that only Marina excels in as much. This should definitely be one of the strong contenders to win."

@Cutlery (10): "A close contender for my highest score in the rate. I do not exaggerate when I say that the huge anticipation + release of Froot on October 2014, along with other factors like getting into Björk in that same Autumn, are what pushed me into really loving music and seeking it out past the 7-8 artists I used to be stuck in (one of those was Ed Sheeran, bought his music, then again I was still trying to convince myself I was a heterosexual… dark, dark times). Both my holes gasped when I pressed play on the 8-bit disco bliss over for the first time, because that's what it is, really. Sexual metaphor lyrics, low pitch surprise vocals, Marina on absolute top form."

@Bangers&Bops (11): "Now this was tough as I almost gave my 11 to Primadonna or I’m a Ruin but FROOT really is that bitch isn’t she? I remember when she released the lyrics first and I was just… confused but how the hell she was going to pack all of that into a song. Lo and behold, she did and removed the three hair follicles I had left on my already bald head. The 80’s 8-bit space disco production is uggh, her mind!! (at the time ddddd)"

@Miyawakiwi (11): "What an amazing song, the interludes are soooo Good, i have no idea why they where cut from the single versión but w/e. The music video, i mean… Wow. Her looks… EVERYTHING! Simply put, everything about froot (the song) is perfect to me!!."

@Dijah. (11): "Froot is the perfect mix of fun, sensualality, and good lyrics. It took me a long time to love this song but I’m so glad I do now. It’s her best."​








Album stats and the final word coming tomorrow xx​
 
Cutlery

Cutlery

He/Him
The landslide... her creative peak left us no choice but to stan. I'm very very pleased that Froot took it, because like I said in my commentary it's an essential song in my stan history, it helped me branch out and discover a lot of alt pop (and not so pop) faves over time. I hoped the album would go in a direction like this and thought it didn't I'm grateful we got a unique, sweeping disco moment from M to cherish forever
 
evilsin

evilsin

I'm happy with the outcome. Both "Oh No!" and "FROOT" are my favorites of hers, and both got 10s from me, so I really didn't have the preference over who should win after "I'm a Ruin" left. The tracks are quite different, but at the same time I can't help but feel that they have some similar moments, especially in the vocals department. Just as I can never get enought "lalala"'s in "Oh No!", I can't get enough of "froo-oo-oo-t" in "FROOT". Simply lush.

You did and amazing job @əʊæ! Thank you so much for hosting.
 
djmakemewet

djmakemewet

He/him
After my 11 left, I was pretty happy with the top 3, but I was secretly (f)rooting for Froot all the way. I have a habit of cursing the songs I post about so I chose not to mention it.

A more than worthy winner. Most of you covered this song's many qualities in your commentary, but I have to give a shout out to that bass lick that kicks off the song before that blast of Pacman synths and the FROO-OO-OO-OOT vocals - what an opening!

EDIT: Also, "pick my petals off and make my heart explode" - what a fucking line.

And to echo what's been said already, thanks @əʊæ for hosting such a wonderful rate!
 
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Maki

Maki

Yay, my 10 won!

I adore "Froot", it's a fantastic winner that represents all of Marina's strengths. So happy it took a quite convincing lead and won (more than 2/3 of voters gave it a 10 or 11!), since my 10's were getting axed throughout the rate.
And "Froot" is not even my favorite song from that album (that title belongs to either "Immortal" or "Solitaire"), but it's definitely the best uptempo song she had on there. Such a unique song; it's a banger, yet it's so sophisticated and, most importantly, has that Marina essence we all love.

"Oh No!" is great, of course, but it's not one of my favorite songs by her. It's obvious why it receives so much love - that chorus is undeniable indeed!

I can't believe we're nearing the very end of this rate. Still, it's not over because there are album recaps.
 
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